Will pulled a chair over next to Maggie’s as they watched Gussie and Jim perform the traditional cutting of the cake, and then Jim cutting the groom’s cake. Jim gave Lily the job of cutting the rest of the slices. She looked happy to do it, and even happier when more people wanted slices of the chocolate “dead fish cake” than of the white wedding cake.

“How does your ankle feel? Are you going to be all right to drive home tomorrow?” Will asked Maggie. They’d managed to smile politely but spend as little time as possible together during the reception.

“Luckily, it’s my left ankle. I’ll be fine,” said Maggie.

“This hasn’t exactly been a relaxing ten days for you.”

“Not exactly.”

“And you’re coming back in a couple of weeks to set up your print room at Gussie’s shop.”

“She and Jim invited me to come for Thanksgiving.” Maggie hesitated. “Will, do you think maybe if we had more time to talk, things could be different? Maybe you could come down from Maine then? I could ask them to set an extra place at their table.”

“Aunt Nettie’s planning on roasting an enormous bird and inviting the whole Brewer clan. She’s counting on my being there to help.”

“Oh.”

“I noticed you’re still wearing the R-E-G-A-R-D ring.”

“Do you want it back?”

Will hesitated. “No. I gave it to you. It’s yours.”

“Will, I do love you. Yesterday you caught me off guard.”

“You sure as hell surprised me, too.”

“You were right when you said I needed to be able to change. To compromise. But I have to think about what that means.”

“I love you, too, Maggie. And I’m willing to stretch. But I’ve always been serious when I said I couldn’t be a father. I don’t think I can be the man you want me to be.”

“You asked me a question yesterday. I messed up the answer. Can I have some more time to think it through?”

“How much more time do you need, Maggie? We’ve been together for a year and a half.”

“Another couple of months?”

Will sighed. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not sure that’s going to make a difference. But, all right. What about Christmas? You get a couple of weeks off from school. How does a Maine Christmas sound?”

“Christmas in Maine sounds wonderful.”

Will looked around at everyone celebrating the wedding, and then at Maggie. “I love you, Maggie. I do. But I can’t change the way I am.”

“I love you, too. And I don’t want to lose you.”

He reached for her hand and helped her to her feet. They turned and stood together, looking out at the rough waters on the Bay. “Maine, then. Christmas.”

About the Author

Lea Wait.Although Lea Wait did summer on Cape Cod once as a child, and has visited since, her heart belongs to Maine, where she writes full-time and lives with her artist husband. She’s the mother of four, grandmother of eight, and has been a fourth-generation antique print dealer since 1977. She also writes novels for young people. Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding is the sixth in Wait’s ­Agatha-finalist Shadows mystery series. She may be visited at www.leawait.com and on Facebook.

Books by Lea Wait

In the Maggie Summer “Shadows” Antique Print Mystery Series

Shadows at the Fair

Shadows on the Coast of Maine

Shadows on the Ivy

Shadows at the Spring Show

Shadows of a Down East Summer

Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding

Novels for children and young adults

Stopping to Home

Seaward Born

Wintering Well

Finest Kind